NTSB investigators determined the weather in the San Fernando Valley was clear on September 12, 2008. Equipment on the Metrolink locomotive and on the tracks was working properly.
They also concluded that veteran engineer Robert Sanchez was distracted by texting and failed to see a red signal after his locomotive pulled away from Chatsworth Station. His northbound train smashed into a southbound Union Pacific freight train minutes later. Sanchez died in the crash.
In all, 25 people were killed, including one passenger who’d been in Metrolink’s Glendale crash in 2005. Another 135 people were injured.
NTSB chair Deborah Hersman says Sanchez texted constantly while on the job.
“There was a violation of company policy and it was flagrant, it was consistent and it was longstanding,” said Hersman. “It was not a ‘one-off’ event. This operator sent and received upwards of 95 text messages that day.”
http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/01/21/ntsb-blames-engineer-in-metrolink-crash/
